


chewing gum

by leovaldez



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Book 4: The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus), Canon Compliant, Developing Friendships, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Roman prequels, Sort Of, lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28881699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leovaldez/pseuds/leovaldez
Summary: the lost trio try to think about how the heck they're going to defeat gaea
Relationships: Jason Grace & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace & Piper McLean, Jason Grace & Piper McLean & Leo Valdez, Piper McLean & Leo Valdez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	chewing gum

**Author's Note:**

> i've mostly been writing original stuff but i figured why not. one of the perks of doing fic is that u don't exactly need a fully realized plot, nor a summary or proper title. i've been abusing this aspect lately lol
> 
> man i just miss them, like just platonic lost trio is so chill ugh. also, i kinda wish there was a bit more animosity to each other, cause there were so many moments and hits where they resented each other, but like, this is for another post fiskjsdkdaoias

When Piper finished her thought, only the waves answered her. Jason and Leo were both thinking to themselves, their faces grave. 

“So it’s us,” Jason said. He looked up, glancing between her and Leo. “We’re storm and fire.”

“It’s always been us,” Piper bit her lip. “Taking down a primordial goddess won’t be like Encladeus, though. Even with the gods’ help, I have a feeling it will be a lot harder.”

Leo shifted his weight from toe to toe, hands braced behind him against the railing. He looked nauseous and like he wanted to jump overboard as if the ocean was going to be a much better fate than the prophecy. Piper couldn’t blame him. “She’s the _earth_. Killing the earth seems counterproductive nowadays, isn’t it?”

“She’s not the earth,” Jason folded his arms. All week had been scorching hot, but where they were talking, tucked away in a shadowed corner of the Argo with the wind slapping against them, Piper was surprised Jason wasn’t cold in his plain T-shirt. Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “She’s like a personification of it.”

“Besides,” Piper cut in. “No one said anything about killing.”

“Well, that’s the thing. How can we stop someone as powerful as her _without_ killing?” Leo stopped moving and leaned back on the railing. “I’ve been thinking about it since back at camp, and there’s no way a bunch of kids can swindle this woman. Especially with the gods being all—” he twirled his finger by his head, “ _basket-case_ right now.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Jason assured them. 

“Man, we don’t need an optimist. We need a miracle,” Leo groaned, tossing his head back. 

Piper agreed. From what she heard from the stories at Camp Half-Blood, the last war they fought had been deadly. Even the campers who had trained for years were unable to keep up with the Titans and hordes of monsters. Piper couldn’t even begin to imagine what the end of this summer would look like. She was supposedly built for this, but Piper was terrified out of her mind. 

Leo looked to be entertaining the merits of taking a dive into the ocean right now, while Jason’s jaw was set, and he stared at a point in space she couldn’t see. 

Piper wasn’t explicitly mentioned in the prophecy. Some part of that offered her relief, but it was quickly overtaken by the fear for her friends. She wished she was named. She also was fine that she wasn’t. But Piper _was_ tied to her friends through the firm not of fate, and had been ever since she stepped into Wilderness. They saved her countless times and she prayed this would be her time to return the favor in some way. 

“Hey,” Leo suddenly shifted, his eyes trained on Jason. “You’ve done this before.”

“What are you talking about?” Jason’s brows knitted.

Leo shrugged, but his stature was stiff. “You know, fought in a war,” he said. “Killed someone.”

Jason blinked, and Piper yelled at him, “Leo! What is _wrong_ with you? Of course, Jason’s never—”

“It’s alright, Piper,” Jason told her. He seemed calm. Arms dropping, Jason moved to the railing in the space between Leo and Piper and sighed. “We’ve all killed monsters before. _She’s_ going to be different, and because of that, I’m guessing we’ll need a different way to do this.”

“That’s great and all,” Leo said, “but you’re avoiding my question, Wonder Boy.”

“You didn’t ask one,” Jason pointed out.

“It doesn’t matter,” Piper added. “What matters is figuring out this prophecy.” The wind around her had grown more robust, and she thought back to Jason’s powers, wondering if he knew what he was doing. If he did, his expression didn’t show it. But since Leo brought it up, Piper was curious. 

She knew Jason, or at least she thought she did. There was an entire life that Jason never talked about, and murder wasn’t precisely a causal dinner topic. For Piper, Jason’s hands and eyes were always gentle, but she couldn’t help but think of the times when she saw her friend spiraling in a tornado with lightning rippling under his skin. There was unbridled rage there, and it was questionable how much of that could amount to someone else’s death under his fingers. 

Leo reached into his toolbelt and pulled out a pack of gum. He nervously began chewing, offering a piece to Piper over Jason. Leo then held out a stick to Jason, who, when reaching, Leo held his arm back. 

“So,” Leo spoke slowly. “Didya kill someone or not?”

Jason looked him in the eye and reached for the piece. Leo let it fall from his fingers without a word. Jason unwrapped it, and when pushing the stick of gum into his mouth, he said, “Yeah, technically. It doesn’t matter anymore. It happened, and I can’t take it back now, right?”

Piper froze, not sure what Leo was going to do. For the most part, Leo exaggerated his emotions, making them plain to see, but his face shared nothing right now. Then Leo’s jaw continued moving, and he looked away, muttering, “Right.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Piper said after a beat of silence. Her gum was pushed against her cheek, the mint flavor feeling sharp. “We can’t kill a goddess.”

“She sure can kill us,” Leo followed. He grimaced at himself. “Tried to a bunch of times before. Still trying.” His voice faltered, and they all looked at each other. Ever since they met, their lives had been in danger and at risk of dying. In between the days lazing around at camp, and the adrenaline from near-escapes, it was easy to forget just that: they _were_ near-escapes, and one day one of them wouldn’t be so lucky.

And if Piper was correct, it was bound to happen to someone standing here. It was inevitable. 

Piper didn’t know who said it; heck, _she_ could’ve been the one to say it. But one of them had uttered it, and the sentence hung in the air as a shameful admittance that they all shared. Piper shivered, and Jason swallowed while Leo licked his lips, staring at the ground. 

_I don’t want to die_. That’s what was said, and Piper had the sound of the words bouncing in her head ever since. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks, talk to me here or at my tumblr (bunkernine)
> 
> thank uuu 💕 have a good one


End file.
